Schools to slow traffic by 10 mph on 15 streets

BY TIMOTHY LAROCHE
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CLAREMONT — Motorists on several city streets will see an afternoon slowdown following the passage of a school zone ordinance.

The City Council passed on Wednesday an ordinance establishing school zones on 14 streets that lie within 1,000 feet of the city’s schools. Under state statutes, the establishment of the school zones will drop speed limits by 10 mph during school drop-off and pick-up hours.

“We’ve received some complaints from down on Maple Avenue in an area where the schools send parents to drop off and pick up,” Police Chief Mark Chase said. “It made us think about school zones and realize that through our city ordinances we had never really designated several city school areas.”

While several streets newly included in the ordinance already have flashing signage telling drivers to reduce speeds at the bookends of the school day, other side streets in the area of Maple Avenue Elementary School have unlisted speed limits, defaulting to 30 miles per hour by state statute. On those streets, the speed limit will reduce to 20 miles per hour.

“Instead of just dealing with that one area, we compiled every streets in the area that we thought should be a school zone,” Chase said of the ordinance. “We decided to tackle them all at once.”

The streets affected by the ordinance include: Sims Street, Canterbury Road, Barton Way, Maple Avenue, Summit Road, Grove Street, Hanover Street, Garden Street, Shannon Street, South Street, Summer Street, Middle Street, Central Street, Hardy Avenue and McKenzie Drive.

Broad Street near Stevens High School was not included in the new ordinance. The speed limits on Broad Street are already 20 mph, a speed that many councilors considered “slow.”

“It is very difficult to go 20 mph on Broad Street,” Mayor Charlene Lovett said of the wide, completely straight roadway.

Questions remain about whether the speed limit on Broad Street would drop further if it was included on the ordinance.

“It’s a perfect area that we should all be going 20 mph on with the post office and the funeral home and the schools,” Chase said. “If we included it would it drop it even further? That would be silly.”

Chase said he will work with Department of Public Works Director Scott Sweet to post new signage on the side streets newly designated as school zones.

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